Away from the Battle of the Atlantic, Donald Cameron is now captain of HMS Caithness, a destroyer on patrol in the Bay of Bengal. Learning of a Japanese convoy bound for Burma with a liner full of British POWs slated for slave labor, Cameron goes beyond his patrol duty and intercepts the vessels. Then he must get the overloaded Caithness back to safety, pursued by late-arriving warships. The narrative adds up to another good look at wartime life ""in the Andrew Royald Navy,'' among officers and crew, including a possibly cowardly first lieutenant. As usual the carnage and randomness of war is not slighted, and McCutchan's talent for mixing believable characters and stirring sea action is as strong as ever. (October 19)